National

No Charges for St. Louis Officer Who Killed 18-Year-Old

Published

11 years ago

May 20, 2015

In this Oct. 9, 2014 file photo, people gather for a candlelight vigil to remember Vonderrit Myers Jr., in St. Louis. An attorney for the family of the black 18-year-old shot and killed last October by an off-duty, white St. Louis police officer said Tuesday, May 19, 2015 he plans to file a wrongful-death lawsuit, after a prosecutor said the officer would not face criminal charges. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

JIM SUHR, Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — An attorney for the family of a black 18-year-old shot and killed last October by an off-duty, white St. Louis police officer said Tuesday he plans to file a wrongful-death lawsuit, after a prosecutor said the officer would not face criminal charges.

In a 51-page report released Monday, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce said her office’s “independent and exhaustive investigation” concluded a criminal violation could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in VonDerrit Myers Jr.’s death.

The report, which did not identify the officer because no charges were filed, said that “given all the available facts, witness statements, (and the) physical and forensic evidence,” the officer shot and killed Myers in self-defense after Myers fired at him.

A statement by St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson identified the officer as Jason Flanery, a six-year veteran of the department. A message left Tuesday with Flanery’s attorney, Brian Millikan, seeking comment on the prosecutor’s decision was not returned.

Myers’ Oct. 8 death fanned racial unrest that had erupted two months earlier after the killing of black, unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson in nearby Ferguson. Brown’s death led to sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson and other U.S. cities, spawning a national “Black Lives Matter” movement seeking changes in how police deal with minorities.

A St. Louis County grand jury and the U.S. Justice Department declined to charge Wilson, who later resigned. But the Justice Department released a scathing report that cited racial bias and racial profiling in Ferguson policing, along with a municipal court system driven by profit extracted mostly from black and low-income residents.

On Tuesday, a few dozen protesters in downtown St. Louis decried Joyce’s decision not to charge Flanery, marching with a police escort before rallying outside of the courts building that includes Joyce’s office.

Then, late Tuesday night, about 40 people gathered outside Joyce’s home to protest and at least six were taken into custody, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

“This is a tragic situation for our entire community, and my thoughts and prayers remain with the Myers family. I know their loss is heartbreaking,” Joyce said in a statement.

An attorney for Myers’ family, former prosecutor Jerryl Christmas, dismissed Joyce’s findings, insisting that Myers was unarmed and never fired at the officer, who was patrolling a neighborhood as a security officer in a marked private security car.

Christmas alleges the officer planted the gun near Myers’ body, and he likened the case to last month’s South Carolina shooting death of a black man, Walter Scott, by a white police officer who said he fired after Scott fought him for his stun gun. That officer, Michael Slager, was charged with murder after video recorded on a bystander’s cellphone showed Scott running from Slager when he was shot.

“I know from working in the prosecutor’s office that the easiest thing for an officer to do is throw a gun on you, and I believe that’s the case here,” Christmas told The Associated Press. “The issue here is this: Whoever has control of the crime scene controls the narrative.”

Christmas said he plans to file a wrongful-death lawsuit by the end of this month, saying the officer who killed Myers “acted irrationally” and “this family needs to be compensated for their loss.”

Joyce’s report said the officer had reason to suspect Myers, who was shot eight times, was armed and that two guns were fired during the confrontation, with shots coming from both directions.

“Based upon the investigation, prosecutors concluded that Mr. Myers produced a firearm on the evening in question,” Joyce’s report read, adding that “no witness claims to have seen (the officer) alter evidence in any way, such as throw down a gun, fire a weapon in any direction other than towards Mr. Myers or scatter bullet casings.”

Joyce said the officer declined to be interviewed for her investigation.

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Black Artists in America, Installation Three Wraps at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens

TRI-STATE DEFENDER — With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 24, 2026

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By Candace A. Gray | Tri-State Defender

The tulips gleefully greet those who enter the gates at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens on an almost spring day. More than 650,000 bulbs of various hues are currently on display. And they are truly breathtaking.

Inside the gallery, and equally as breathtaking, is the “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” exhibit, which runs through Sunday, March 29. This is the third installment of a three-part series that started years ago and illustrates part of the Black experience through visual arts in the 20th century.

“This story picks up where part two left off,’’ said Kevin Sharp, the Linda W. and S. Herbert Rhea director for the Dixon. “This era is when we really start to see the emergence of these important Black artists’ agency and freedom shine through. They start to say and express what they want to, and it was a really beautiful time.”

With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

“Though [Davis] was from LA, he actually lived in Memphis for a decade,” said Sharp. “He was a dean at Memphis College of Art, and later opened the first gallery in New York owned and operated by black curators.”

Another featured artist is former NFL player, Ernie Barnes. His work is distinctive. Where have you seen one of his most popular paintings, Sugar Shack? On the end scene and credits of the hit show “Good Times.” His piece Saturday Night, Durham, North Carolina, 1974 is in this collection.

Memphis native James Little’s “The War Baby: The Triptych” is among more than 50 works featured in “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, the final installment of a three-part series highlighting the impact and evolution of Black artists through 2011.

The exhibit features other artists with Memphis ties, including abstract painter James Little, who was raised in a segregated Memphis and attended Memphis Academy of Art (before it was Memphis College of Art). He later moved to New York, became a teacher and an internationally acclaimed fixture in the art world in 2022 when he was named a Whitney Biennial selected artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Other artists like Romare Bearden, who had a Southern experience but lived up North, were featured in all three installments.

“During this period of time, he was a major figure,” said Sharp. “He wrote one of the first books on the history of African American art during a time when there were more Black academics, art teachers, more Black everything!”

Speaking of Black educators, Sharp said the head curator behind this tri-part series and Dixon’s partner in the arts is Earnestine Jenkins, Ph.D., an art history professor at the University of Memphis, who also earned a Master of Arts degree from Memphis State University (now UofM). “We began working with Dr. Jenkins in 2018,” he said.

Sharp explained that it takes a team of curators, registrars, counterparts at other museums, and more, about three years to assemble an exhibit like this. It came together quite seamlessly, he added. Each room conjured up more jaw-dropping “wows” than the one before it. Each piece worked with the others to tell the story of Black people and their collective experience during this time period.

One of the last artists about whom Sharp shared information was Bettye Saar, who will turn 100 years old this year. She’s been working in Los Angeles for 80 years and is finally getting her due. Her medium is collages or assemblages, and an incredible work of hers is on display. She’s married to an artist and has two daughters, also artists.

The exhibit catalogue bears some of these artists’ stories, among other scholarly information.

The exhibit, presented by the Joe Orgill Family Fund for Exhibitions, is culturally and colorfully rich. It is a must see and admission to the Dixon is free.

Visit https://www.dixon.org/ to learn more.

Fun Facts: An original James Little design lives in the flooring of the basketball court at Tom Lee Park, and he makes and mixes his own paint colors.